Annual snowmobile show Friday, Saturday

March 7, 2013

ROGERS CITY - Dust off that old Polaris or Arctic Cat and bring it out to the Rogers City Antique and Vintage Snowmobile Show today and Saturday.

Now in its ninth year, the show once again will be held at the Water's Edge, organizer Dan Derry said. It'll kick off at the 208 Club east of town on M-68 with a ride, bonfire, weenie roast and 50-50 raffle. From there, the party moves into town at the Water's Edge, where Bobbing for Piranhas will play starting at 9 p.m.

The show continues Saturday starting at 9 a.m. when the sleds will be on display until 3 p.m., Derry said. At 5:30 p.m., the banquet begins, complete with a whitefish or chicken dinner. It's open to the public, and tickets are $10. The whitefish is donated by one of the show sponsors, King's Fisheries in Naubinway.

After dinner, there will be a Chinese raffle, auctions and a trophy presentation, Derry said. Bobbing for Piranhas will play again starting at 9 p.m.

New this year will be a featured sled, the Sport King Ski-Kat, Derry said. These snowmobiles were made in the late 1960s in Rogers City, in a factory where the city Department of Public Works garage now stands. The company made about 950 units.

"Hopefully we can get a few of them to turn out," he said.

Sport King also made a motorized tricycle and a balloon-tired mini bike, which also will be on display at the show, Derry said. Best of all, Glen Heidrich, the son of the late Sport King founder Larry, will be at the show to talk about the off-road vehicles.

The show has always enjoyed a strong turnout, Derry said, averaging at about 175 sleds per show. He's been to a few other snowmobile shows this year, and the turnout seems to be a little lower.

"It could be due to gas prices or the economy, but we've always managed to hold our average up here," he said.

Snowmobile owners still can register their vintage or antique sleds, free of charge, Derry said. Those made before 1968 are considered antiques, while sleds made from 1969 to 1980 are considered vintage.

Derry organizes the show as a way to preserve the history of snowmobiling. He's been riding since the 1970s, and his oldest is a 1963 Polaris. The oldest sled ever to enter the show was an Eliason Motor Toboggan from the 1940s, the precursor to the modern snowmobile.

"It's basically just to give the people some kind of idea of the history of snowmobiles, the founders, where they came from, where they were produced," he said.